SUB-SPACECOM

 NEWS & GOSSIPS

Image above: Gary Cosentino currently heads NASA Dryden's support for the flight research effort on Boeing Phantom Works' X-48B Blended Wing Body sub-scale flight demonstrator. NASA photo

Nine-year-old Gary Cosentino watched the television with awe on July 20, 1969, as two men exited an odd-looking craft called the Eagle lunar module, climbed down a ladder and set foot on the moon.

When astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, it was an event that went on to inspire Cosentino, like many others, to seek out a career in aerospace. But few have had the opportunity to shake hands with one of the living legends who helped set the course of their lives.

Cosentino has now had that privilege.

"I was watching you guys when I was 9," Cosentino told Aldrin when the famed astronaut visited NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently. "That's why I'm here today. If it wasn't for you I'd be doing something else."

Cosentino, now NASA's project manager for the X-48B Blended Wing Body flight research at Dryden, jumped at the chance to tell one of his idols everything that series of events has meant to his life.

"I have always wanted to say those words to someone from that era," Cosentino reflected. "I've had a chance to meet two of them, Vance (Brand) and now Buzz. I probably would not be here today in this field, working for NASA, if it wasn't for the impression they made on me in those years when I was watching every launch."

That impression led Cosentino to pursue an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Arizona, awarded in 1982, followed by a masters in the same discipline from the University of Colorado two years later.

After a short time as a propulsion engineer for General Dynamics' Convair division, Cosentino was hired by NASA Ames Research Center near San Jose, Calif., as an aerospace engineer specializing in computational fluid dynamics. He worked on various aircraft and propulsion configurations, including design work on the subscale NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft.

Cosentino transferred to NASA Dryden January 1998 as project manager for the X-36 flight test project, and also was given project management responsibilities for other unmanned technology demonstration aircraft, including the Altus II and Perseus B. After 6 ½ years leading the planning and flight test effort for the X-45A UCAV (J-UCAS), Cosentino was then assigned to his current role with the X-48B.

Aldrin, now 77, spent about three and a half hours touring NASA Dryden and several of its current projects, including a spin in the Blended Wing Body simulator's pilot's chair. He was then treated by Air Force representatives to a tour of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, where he served as commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School for a year after his stint as a NASA astronaut. He was in the area to be honored by the Lancaster JetHawks baseball team that evening during the ball club's annual Aerospace Appreciation Night.

"It was really an honor to meet a guy like that, who did so much and definitely charted a course for my future without ever knowing it," Cosentino concluded.

Lunar Outpost Plans Taking Shape

NASA's blueprints for an outpost on the moon are shaping up. The agency's Lunar Architecture Team has been hard at work, looking at concepts for habitation, rovers, and space suits.

NASA will return astronauts to the moon by 2020, using the Ares and Orion spacecraft already under development. Astronauts will set up a lunar outpost – possibly near a south pole site called Shackleton Crater – where they’ll conduct scientific research, as well as test technologies and techniques for possible exploration of Mars and other destinations.

Even though Shackleton Crater entices NASA scientists and engineers, they don’t want to limit their options. To provide for maximum flexibility, NASA is designing hardware that would work at any number of sites on the moon. Data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, a moon-mapping mission set to launch in October 2008, might suggest that another lunar site would be best suited for the outpost.

First, astronauts on the moon will need someplace to live. NASA officials had been looking at having future moonwalkers bring smaller elements to the moon and assemble them on site. But the Lunar Architecture Team found that sending larger modules ahead of time on a cargo lander would help the outpost get up and running more quickly. The team is also discussing the possibility of a mobile habitat module that would allow one module of the outpost to relocate to other lunar destinations as mission needs dictate.

NASA is also considering small, pressurized rovers that could be key to productive operations on the moon’s surface. Engineers envision rovers that would travel in pairs – two astronauts in each rover – and could be driven nearly 125 miles away from the outpost to conduct science or other activities. If one rover had mechanical problems, the astronauts could ride home in the other.

Image right: Concept of one potential design for a future lunar rover. Spacesuits would be attached to the exterior of the rover. Credit: NASA

Astronauts inside the rovers wouldn't need special clothing because the pressurized rovers would have what's called a "shirt-sleeve environment." Spacesuits would be attached to the exterior of the rover (see images). NASA's lunar architects are calling them "step in" spacesuits because astronauts could crawl directly from the rovers into the suits to begin a moonwalk.

NASA is also looking to industry for proposals for a next-generation spacesuit. The agency hopes to have a contractor on board by mid-2008.

NASA will spend the next several months communicating the work of the Lunar Architecture Team to potential partners -- the aerospace community, industry, and international space agencies -- to get valuable feedback that will help NASA further refine plans for the moon outpost. The agency's goal is to have finalized plans by 2012 to get "boots on the moon" by 2020.

Moon: By going to the moon for extended periods of time, astronauts will search for resources and learn how to work safely in a harsh environment -- stepping stones to future exploration. The moon also offers many clues about the time when the planets were formed.

Mars: Robotic missions have found evidence of a watery past, suggesting that simple life forms may have developed long ago and may persist beneath the surface today. Human exploration could provide answers to some profound questions.

Beyond: As humans and robots work together exploring the moon and Mars, NASA spacecraft will continue to send back scientific data from throughout the solar system, laying the groundwork for potential human journeys.


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